Private Universal ‘New York Street Party’ Caps Off Travel Exchange |
August 14, 2012
Interested in advertising in Tuesday? E-mail Karla DiNardo.
TODAY’S ARTICLES
Private Universal ‘New York Street Party’ Caps Off Travel Exchange
Tour Operators: The Berkely Group Can Help You Make Money
Journey to Morocco in October
Majority of NTA Buyers Only Go to NTA
57 Students Receive Scholarships
ReKindle Your Relationship with NTA Tour Operators
Travel Cited as ‘Life’s Biggest Moment’ by Facebook Users
Industry News and Updates
Private Universal ‘New York Street Party’ Caps Off Travel Exchange
A special evening awaits you for the last night of Travel Exchange! We’ll make our way to Universal Studios® for a New York Street Party, complete with an eclectic mix of theme park thrills and charming city sets of familiar landmarks and scenes from classic cinema.
After you make your red carpet entrance, you’ll get to enjoy cuisine prepared by an award-winning culinary team, meet some famous characters, show off your dance moves to the tunes of an interactive DJ, AND you’ll have access to some of Universal Studios’ most thrilling attractions including:
Revenge of the MummySM—experience the Mummy’s curse on this indoor rollercoaster!
Twister…Ride It Out®—feel the full force of nature as this attraction rips a scene right out of the movies!
The Blues Brothers Show—they’re back and as popular as ever as they get the crowd jumping with all their hits!
This exclusive after-hours event, co-sponsored* by AON Affinity Berkely Travel, is the perfect way to bid farewell to your friends and Travel Exchange 2013!
Not registered for Travel Exchange yet? Register now and meet your next business partners, attend seminars to make you even better at your job, and enjoy the fun!
*Would you like to sponsor at this event? E-mail Karla DiNardo or call her: 1.859.264.6556.
Tour Operators: The Berkely Group Can Help You Make Money
"Setness Tours has worked with Berkely Insurance for over a decade. The commission adds nicely to our bottom line, and I know my clients are protected. That gives them and me peace of mind."
—Katherine Setness, Setness Tours, NTA member since 2001
Tour operators: NTA has worked with Corporate Partner The Berkely Group to design and customize travel insurance products to help boost your bottom line. Two types of products are available*:
- An administration-free product that can be distributed to clients for purchase via mail, fax or phone
- A group product that offers more flexibility in pricing and compensation
Both products offer up to 35 percent in compensation for each sale.
Benefits include the following coverage:
- Trip cancellation and interruption protection
- Option to waive the pre-existing condition exclusion
- Bankruptcy of a travel supplier (other than the NTA tour operator)
- Terrorism coverage
- Travel delay
- Baggage and baggage delay
- Medical and evacuation coverage
- Assistance services
When contacting The Berkely Group, make sure you identify yourself as an NTA member. Click here to learn more about this exclusive member benefit and be sure to visit our Corporate Partners page for additional benefits and resources.
* These products are only available to NTA members located in the United States.
"The Exotic Land of Morocco" is the next NTA Montage product development trip, set for Oct. 20–30. The trip, hosted by Hospitality Marketing Services, will explore the culture and mystique of this northwestern African nation. Here’s the itinerary:
Attendees begin their journey with a tour of Casablanca, the famous port city that sits along Morocco’s Atlantic coast. Following a tour of the nation’s capital, Rabat, the 
group moves on to Fes for a tour of this ancient city known as "the Athens of Africa."
Next up is a scenic drive into the High Atlas Mountains for a look at the natural beauty of the Moroccan countryside around Efroud and Ouarzazate, including spectacular kasbahs, canyons and valleys. Participants will spend the next few days experiencing Marrakech and its many attractions, landmarks, outdoor markets and legendary cuisine, and then they’ll return to Casablanca for their flights home.
The cost for the PDT trip, open to tour operators only, is $1,595 (double occupancy) or $1,795 (single occupancy), which includes roundtrip air from New York’s JFK International Airport to Casablanca; participants are responsible for their own airfare to JFK. For participants who book their own air, land-only packages are available for $999 (double) and $1,299 (single). The price for spouses is an extra $250. This PDT requires the participation of at least 15 passengers. To get started, download this form or contact Lauren Ashley Pope, events manager at NTA.
Majority of NTA Buyers Only Go to NTA
Want to sell to the largest gathering of NTA buyers? Register for Travel Exchange. Research shows that NTA’s annual convention—Travel Exchange—is the main show for NTA tour operators (80 percent don’t go to similar shows).
Add to that the UMA buyers already registered for Travel Exchange who say they offer packaged tour products and services, and you have a travel show built on expertise and experience that expands your buying and selling opportunities … Travel Exchange. Have you registered yet? Hurry! The Early Bird Deadline is Aug. 24 and appointment scheduling starts Sept. 12. Register here.
"If I hadn’t been going to NTA every year, every year, every year, I don’t think we’d have the business we have."
—Phyllis Veale, Grand Vista Hotel.
57 Students Receive Scholarships
Tourism Cares has awarded $72,000 in academic scholarships to 57 travel, tourism
and hospitality students across the United States and Canada. The scholarships, funded by NTA, American Society of Travel Agents, and the International Airlines Travel Agent Network, are awarded annually to students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in travel, tourism 
or hospitality at accredited colleges and universities.
The Tourism Cares Scholarship Selection Committee, comprised of travel, tourism and hospitality educators and professionals from across the country, selects the academic scholarship recipients each year from hundreds of applicants. This year’s recipients include students at 41 
different U.S. or Canadian schools pursuing a variety of degrees: associate’s (1), bachelor’s (36), master’s (14), and doctoral (six).
In addition to the monetary awards they receive, scholarship recipients are also invited to attend the Tourism Cares Student Mentor Program at Travel Exchange in Orlando. The program gives students the opportunity to shad
ow
professional mentors and participate in tourism industry workshops. If you are interested in mentoring an academic scholarship winner, watch for information coming soon on the Travel Exchange Web site.
ReKindle Your Relationship with NTA Tour Operators
NTA Tour Operators consistently rank Courier magazine the No. 1 travel trade publication, and by advertising, your message can be seen by 1,500 NTA tour operators actively planning tours. Buy any full page ad by Aug. 31 and you’ll be entered to win a Kindle, compliments of Courier magazine.
For more information on Courier and all of NTA’s official publications, click here or contact your account executive. (Be sure to mention "Kindle" when you call to be entered to win!)
- Beth Engel, Eastern U.S. representative, 859.264.6560
- Jonathan Patrick, Central U.S. and Canada representative, 859.264.6568
- Ashley Horton, Western U.S. and international representative, 859.264.6557
Travel Cited as ‘Life’s Biggest Moment’ by Facebook Users
After examining a representative slice of major life events posted on the timelines of Facebook users worldwide, researchers determined that people add more stories about travel than any other life event. This Tnooz infographic shows that 42 percent of Facebook users added more stories about travel, with romantic events in second place (21 percent). The study also showed that the older people get, the more travel stories they share, and Canadians share travel stories more than people in any other country.
- San Diego, the host city for this week’s Contact, ranks sixth on the list of the top 50 cities in the United States for meetings and events. Orlando, the site for Travel Exchange in January, ranks No. 1.
- International visitation to the United States rose 1 percent in May. Visitation from both Canada and Mexico dropped 3 percent during the month, but increased visitation from China (up 26 percent from May 2011), Japan (up 19 percent), Germany and Brazil (both up 15 percent) led to an overall increase.
- In the first half of 2012, U.S. airlines set records in key consumer service measurements: on-time flights, lost bags and runway delays.
- Nearly 39 million mainlanders left China on overseas trips in the first half of 2012, roughly double on five years ago. And as Chinese incomes rise, so are opportunities to travel: Before the end of 2016, China plans to build 56 new airports and expand 91.
Click here for the Tuesday archive.